Colorado @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 16, 2019 ) St. Louis 3, Colorado 0

After once languishing with the fewest points in the NHL, the St. Louis Blues have enjoyed a scintillating 27-10-4 run that has them entertaining thoughts of recording the most points in the Central Division. The red-hot Blues look to continue their ascent on Monday night when they host the Colorado Avalanche, who are clinging to the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

"Obviously, you want to be playing your best going into the playoffs and there's a couple of teams we still want to catch, and home ice would be huge for us," forward Tyler Bozak told reporters after St. Louis improved to 6-1-1 in its last eight games with a 3-2 overtime victory over New Jersey on Saturday. The teams in question are Winnipeg and Nashville, who reside two points ahead of the Blues as the Central threatens to send five of its teams to the playoffs. Enter Colorado, which has enjoyed a sizzling 6-0-1 run of its own to hold a one-point lead over Arizona for the last spot. "(The Blues) clinched already and obviously they are trying to get home-ice advantage," forward Sven Andrighetto told reporters on Sunday. "We all know what is at stake for us. We control our own destiny and every single game matters the most right now, it is going to be a huge game (on Monday) for us."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (36-29-13): Captain Gabriel Landeskog returned from a nine-game absence due to an upper-body injury to set up Nathan MacKinnon's power-play goal in the second period of Friday's 3-2 shootout win over Arizona. Derick Brassard also scored with the man advantage on Friday, lifting Colorado to 5-for-14 on its power play in the last four games. Alexander Kerfoot has one goal and four assists on his career high-tying four-game point streak.

ABOUT THE BLUES (42-28-8): Vince Dunn recorded his fifth game-winning goal - and fourth this season - when he scored in overtime on Saturday. Fellow defenseman Colton Parayko also tallied in overtime of a 3-2 victory at Colorado on Nov. 30 while Ryan O'Reilly scored in the extra session of a 4-3 triumph against the Avalanche on Dec. 14. The 6-6 Parayko has tallied three times versus Colorado this season while Vladimir Tarasenko (two goals, one assist) and O'Reilly (one goal, two assists) also have recorded three points against the Avalanche.

OVERTIME

1. Colorado G Philipp Grubauer is 6-0-1 with a 1.55 goals-against average and .957 save percentage in his last seven starts.

2. Blues G Jake Allen has turned aside 98 of 103 shots to win all three encounters with the Avalanche in 2018-19.

3. Colorado has scored first in eight straight games.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 2, Blues 1